


A Second Chance

by orphan_account



Category: The Lorax (2012), The Lorax - Dr. Seuss
Genre: Anal Sex, Awkward chapter breaks, Blow Jobs, Human!Lorax, M/M, Masturbation, Possibly other naughty stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-12-04
Updated: 2012-12-13
Packaged: 2017-11-20 09:11:19
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,855
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/583679
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For the first time in a long, long time he felt hope!  It came in the form of an impatient kid, stayed in seeds, and flourished with the return of the Lorax.  Before him was an endless road of possibilities again.  The Once-ler hadn’t felt this ecstatic since he first left home to find the right material for his Thneed. <br/>(Otherwise known as the story where the Lorax comes back with a new bag of tricks, including but not limited to giving Oncie a second go at life and possibly, maybe being able to turn into a hot, orange man.)<br/>Updates on Tuesdays.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I would like to apologize for my awkward chapter breaks before we get started here. I initially wrote this fic to be a oneshot, but... 30K words later and it really drove home the fact that I really canNOT seem to write those. Hence weird breaks, awkward lengths, and the semi-lack of a good plot. But I figured, better out there in the world than collecting dust on my computer!
> 
> Hopefully a person or two will enjoy it anyway! :)

“You’ve done good, beanpole.”

Those words were more relieving than any the Once-ler had heard. Better than when his first customer asked for one of his thneeds; more uplifting than when his mother exclaimed how proud she was. He had spent over half his life regretting the actions he had made and the results they had brought, and finally—oh gods finally—he was given some seed of redemption. That single sentence seemed to fix almost everything wrong inside him.

Okay, perhaps not everything—he would always regret, always feel the pain of his family leaving, and forever know he had messed up the lives of countless innocent creatures—but those words did lift the largest bolder pushing him down throughout all these years. For once he felt like he could actually reverse his damage; that he had taken the first very important steps to true and total change. 

“Thank you, Lorax,” the Once-ler murmured as they strolled beside each other through the random scatter of Truffula sprouts. He dipped his watering can with each mini tree they passed.

“Yeah, yeah,” the Lorax dismissively responded before bringing up the important topic at hand, “Now listen here, beanpole, just because you’ve got trees growing again doesn’t mean you’re out of the forest yet. In fact, you’ve got a whole future of forest in front of you!”

The Once-ler chuckled lightly at the orange guardian’s ridiculous joke, but kept his opinions to himself otherwise.

“Unfortunately you’re a bit old for the big tasks before you, so I’m going to have to do a bit of meddling. But, hey, I would say you deserve another chance.”

“Another chance? What exactly are you talking about, old friend?” The bent man lifted a large and bushy brow as he pulled his glance away from one of his trees and to the Lorax beside him.

“Another go around. Another attempt to get it right.”

“…?” 

The Lorax halted, turned to the Once-ler, and took a moment to stroke his chin thoughtfully, purposely taking his time to irk the other. Any hard feelings may be forgotten, but their usual bickering and nagging on each other was obviously the same as usual, even after so many years.

“I’m going to give you another chance at getting your ridiculous life right, you dolt! Now hold still, you don’t want to see what could happen if I miss my mark.”

The Once-ler felt a creeping nervousness seep into his old bones. Another chance at life? Now what in the heck did that mean? Did the Lorax have some crazy powers besides butt ascending he had been keeping from him? It wasn’t possible for him to reverse time, was it? Before the man could bring up his concerns, though, the Lorax raised his hands, effectively distracting the Once-ler and cutting him off.

“Now don’t make me regret this decision, you hear me, beanpole?”

The next thing the Once-ler knew was all white and the strangest sensation zipping through his body. It was as though a burning renewal was spreading from his core out to his tips. Aches, pressures, and stress points all seemed to vanish with the spreading of this strange sensation. Suddenly the man realized he could straighten himself up. He hadn’t been capable of that for years! Then his… did his knees and joints feel less shaky?

When his sight came back to him, the Once-ler was stunned by the drastic difference he felt in his body. He felt… good! Real good! Like 50 years younger good! Wow! There was also a lot of confusion that came with it. What had the Lorax done? Why did he feel so different all of a sudden? Trying to get his bearings again, the Once-ler reigned in his thoughts and tried to focus.

“Wha… what did you do to me?”

…

Whoa, whoa, wait a minute—“What the heck happened to my voice?!” Reaching his hands up to cover his mouth and contain that oddly young and sing-songy voice of his, the Once-ler realized he didn’t feel like he should under his fingers. Now where the heck had his beard gone? The man yelped in surprise and jumped a little, caught completely off guard.

“Oh jeez, man, what in the world is going on here?” Startled by his voice all over again, the Once-ler glanced down his own body, immediately realizing there was something different. Quickly patting himself down he could feel it, too. His body… it was firm! It was in shape and healthy and, oh gosh, young!

He was young… He was _young_!

“Holy crap, I’m a kid again!” At least, it felt like he was a kid in comparison to how old he had been not two minutes ago. “What is—when did—how?”

“No, no, _why?!_ ”

The Once-ler snapped his attention from his newly revamped body and stared in awe at the Lorax, demanding an answer with his stare.

“I told ya I was giving you another chance, didn’t I? And now you won’t kill yourself while working on restoring all the trees here.” The Lorax crossed his arms a bit smugly, quite proud over his handy work.

“But how?” The Once-ler stared in disbelief. “I thought you couldn’t really pull off any of that crazy magic stuff!”

The orange guardian shrugged and responded, “Ehh, I’ve learned a few tricks.”

“Seriously? What else have you learned?” But the newly young again man was struck with another thought before he could let the Lorax answer, “Wait a minute here—you didn’t do this to really give me another chance, did you? You just needed strong able hands to help you get all this work done . So tell me, what exactly do you have on that scheming mind of yours, huh?” Bending over with his bottom lip suspiciously pushed out, the Once-ler squinted down at his old friend, gloved hands automatically going to his hips.

The Lorax scoffed, as though the other were accusing him of a crime. “Don’t look at me like that, this is your fault and you know it. All I’m saying is for you to work on cleaning it up—clear out old stumps, get rid of your gross contraptions and pollution, and continue planting new traffula trees.”

The young man groaned, standing up straight again and sliding a hand down his face.

“Now listen here, beanpole! You have no room to complain about any of this, you hear me? You—“

“I know, I know! All my fault, my responsibility. Sheesh, relax, I’ll do it!” The Once-ler grumbled, “Doesn’t mean I can’t groan a bit at the workload, does it? I mean even if I do feel spanking new and everything, I’ve lived through an entire lifetime here.”

“Oh what’s that, do I hear whining? Hm it isn’t like I haven’t lived a millennia or anything over here, nooo,” the guardian sarcastically retorted.

“Argggh, and yet again I am reminded as to why you always annoyed the daylights out of me.”

“And I remember why I had to keep my eye on you and your lazy bum!”

Gasping and acting scandalized, the Once-ler lifted an arm in front of him and shifted his weight away from the Lorax. “You mean to tell me you were looking?!”

The guardian’s only response was to quite loudly smack a hand to his forehead in an epic display of a facepalm.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oops, I forgot to post this Tuesday.

Warmth flittered through the windows, gently sliding against his face, and heating up his eyelids. It felt good, but it was rousing. The Once-ler groaned and buried his face into his bed, trying to escape the light. He didn’t like mornings much anymore. With it came aches and stiffness, and not all of them due to being old. Each day was another reminder of how horribly he had fucked everything up. It was a fitting punishment, though, and he took it like the man he was.

Sighing, the Once-ler waited for the usual morning pain to begin. Any moment now he’d realize how much his joints hurt, how stiff every limb felt. Yep, any moment now… Yet it didn’t come. Sure, there was a little stiffness and the urge to stretch, but it wasn’t the same. This confused the man, and slowly he gave in to the urge to stretch—expecting his aches to flare up any second. But all he felt was really, really good. Wow, had stretching always felt so amazing?

Throwing caution to the wind, the Once-ler fully extended himself out, arms raising above his head, toes opening and curling, back arching, and the sweetest sound of pleasure escaping his lips. Holy mother of truffula trees that felt wonderful! Settling back in, he slowly opened his eyes. He did not understand how or why he felt so great today, but he certainly wouldn’t complain about it. When his eyes focused, they landed on a familiar orange and heavily mustached face.

The Lorax?

There was a brief moment of confusion before realization and memory hit him like a ton of bricks. That’s right! Yesterday, the Lorax had come! And he had told the Once-ler he would give him another chance so he could restore this valley. And then—bam—some magic boom bang and he was a young man again! Wow… He couldn’t get that thought to sink in. He was young again. Nothing ached, nothing stayed stiff for hours. His knees didn’t wobble, his hands didn’t shake. Yes, he was young again and it felt amazing. Even if he did make a show of moans and groans over the jobs the Lorax had planned out for him, the Once-ler was extremely grateful. When it came down to it, he would be willing to do all the work it would take to restore his home a million times over, plus some. That regret had hung over him for so long, it almost seemed to build into something greater with each passing year. And although he was by default a chipper guy, there were moments when he had no distraction from his pains, and those pains would come and wreck him over worse than each time they had before.

But now, well, now things were changed. For the first time in a long, long time he felt hope! It came in the form of an impatient kid, stayed in seeds, and flourished with the return of the Lorax. Before him was an endless road of possibilities again. The Once-ler hadn’t felt this ecstatic since he first left home to find the right material for his Thneed.

Smiling, the young man took a moment to study the sleeping face of his friend. The Once-ler hadn’t invited him to his bed and the Lorax hadn’t wanted to be in it, but sometime during the night he must have moved, and just like old times he found himself waking up to that furry face far too close for comfort. Only, oddly enough, this time around it was a comfort. Unlike before, he didn’t have the urge to push the nosy peanut out of his bed and get up with an exasperated sigh. Things were the same as before, but time had changed the outcome.

Who would have thought the Once-ler would ever come to the day where waking up to the Lorax’s stupid orange face would be something positive? Haha, certainly not he.

With another stretch and a loud sigh, the Once-ler slowly rose out of bed, ready to tackle the first new day of many. First on his list of things to do—get dressed. Only, hmm… Now that he was young again, putting on the same old and worn down outfit as before seemed ill-fitting. Perhaps it was time to drag out something different. Something he wore when he was fresh and young as he was now.

~~~ 

Going was, to put it bluntly, slower than a grandfather snail. With just the Lorax and himself, simple tasks were taking ages. Clearing debris from one area was a whole day affair, stumps were two, and the whole process from cleaning one stretch of land barely bigger than the width of his home up to planting seeds there took three days at least. It would be a bit easier with extra hands, but the Once-ler was hesitant to ask the people of Thneedville to help him. It was his burden, after all. He was lucky enough to have the Lorax helping out. Though, he couldn’t lie, it would be much easier if the guardian weren’t so small. Or even if there were animals in the area still to help out. As it were, the Once-ler would be at this task for years.

Although things were taking an ungodly amount of time to accomplish with just the two of them, goings weren’t overly strained or unpleasant. Having someone to work alongside with, to bicker and banter with, was more fun than anything else. The Once-ler had gone ages alone, and the company was more than welcome. He sang often while they worked, coming up with new tunes and jingles and mourning the loss of his old guitar. At which point the Lorax would snark back exclaiming that nothing would ever get done if he did have it, because the useless brat would be too busy playing it.

Things went on for about a week like this, the both of them falling into an easy and comfortable routine, before they hit their first major snag. A snag in the form of the Once-ler’s old tree chopping machines. Over time the thing had broken down enough to be fairly moveable, but not by one person and a two foot tall tree guardian. The thing needed two strong pairs of hands at least, and even that would be difficult. Now under normal circumstances they would probably just leave the blasted thing where it fell, but it was a bit of an eyesore so close to the Once-ler’s home, and what’s more is the contraption had partially fallen into the river running by. It was something that very much needed moving.

“Lor, there is just no way to get that thing out! Not with only the two of us. I’m not exactly built for crazy mutant man axe-machine lifting, and, well… you’re kind of a shrimp,” The Once-ler collapsed down on the riverbank with a loud sigh. They had been pulling at it for the last thirty minutes with absolutely no luck. They had managed to budge it, but that was about it.

“Shut your trap, beanpole,” The Lorax snapped back, standing before the old and broken machine while stroking his chin in thought. He mused quietly, “There might be a way…”

“Oh, right, well do inform me.” The man doubted the Lorax really had a way. At least not without it being crazy and more trouble than it’s worth—literally. Chances are it would end up with one or both of them down the waterfall.

The Lorax huffed but otherwise ignored his human companion. The orange guardian had not been lying when he had said he had learned a few tricks, but he felt a little reluctant about this one. Not because it took too much power or energy—it was really a very simple magic—but because he had never cared for the outcome of it before. The Lorax had to admit it would be useful with this work, though. And he supposed there could be a plus or two about it. He was pretty damn sure it would wipe that stupid ‘yeah right, whatever’ look right off of the beanpole’s face, for one.

Well fine, the Lorax supposed it was decided. He really didn’t see any other way to move this pile of junk anyway. The guardian had a very hesitant acceptance of humans and really did not want any more than necessary messing up his valley.

“Okay stand back--”

“Sitting,” the Once-ler cut in.

“—and shut up for one damn minute!”

The Once-ler huffed, rolling his eyes but staying put. He had no idea what the Lorax was going to do, but whatever. Let the orange peanut try. 

And then there was white—just like before—and the Once-ler’s attention was instantly attached to the Lorax. It was too blinding to see, though, and he had to cover his eyes from the shining rays. Though he couldn’t quite see it, it seemed as though the white light was growing, shifting, expanding. It rose up and at its peak, exploded out like a pop of air, and the blinding light was no more.

The man was dazed for a moment, completely incapable of comprehending what just happened, and momentarily blinded. He blinked furiously. When the spots cleared from his vision, the Once-ler focused back on the Lorax and—“Gasp!”

Standing before him no longer was the orange peanut of a guardian known as the Lorax, but a man! A decently tall, muscular, and orange man! The Once-ler’s eyes couldn’t help but scrape down the bared back exposed to him, fully taking in the figure as he stood. The man had light, orangish hair, exactly the color as the Lorax’s mustache and eyebrows, cut short and sticking up in a wild manner. The hair thinned out down the man’s neck, and smoothly transitioned into a fine, sculpted back. The Once-ler couldn’t tell if the man just had orange skin from his distance, but he could see puffs of hair—fur?—spiking out from certain areas; the shoulders, elbows, hips… The young man’s eyes trailed lower and he gulped; the orange man before him was waaaay too naked and crap, just look at that ass! It looked round and strong and just way too freaking perfect!

The Once-ler couldn’t help but blush, and though he felt he should tear his eyes away he just couldn’t! Now it certainly wasn’t like the young man hadn’t seen a fine ass or two in his time. He was no virgin, and quite early on he discovered that—while he enjoyed laying with a woman too—men were by far his preferred choice of partner, but with how long it had been… well, the Once-ler might have just been a virgin all along at this point. After he lost his power and money no one wanted him anymore, and it hadn’t taken long before he exiled himself in shame. He hadn’t seen anyone naked let alone been with anyone since then, and time had a funny way of screwing with memories—both mental and physical.

“Yep, this ought to make things a bit easier, don’t you think, beanpole?” The Lorax’s voice came out from the man as he turned—turned when the Once-ler’s line of vision was still set on the orange man’s fine ass. Instantly the Once-ler was bombarded by the sight of the other’s goods (and they looked quite good, if not very orange), and although he had a hard time pulling his eyes away from the man’s ass, his reaction was instantaneous to both look away and cover his eyes as soon as he realized where he was staring.

“Aghk!” Once-ler yelped awkwardly. He smacked his hand to his eyes so quickly and harshly, he knocked himself over.

“What the heck’s your problem now?” The man raised a thick eyebrow at the other, shifting his weight to one foot and crossing his arms.

“Wha-wha—who are you? And why are you naked?!” The Once-ler sputtered out, peaking out between his fingers from the ground.

“It’s me, the Lorax. Guardian of the forest. Who the hell else would I be?” The newly human Lorax huffed impatiently. “And what do you expect, me to just grow clothes because I change shape?”

“The Lorax? B-but how?!” The Once-ler gaped at him, sliding his hand away to stare—though careful not to look too low. 

From the front, well, the orange man claiming to be the Lorax looked even better. He was bulkier than the Once-ler, but not thick. It was all sleek muscle, like an extremely well-toned swimmer or runner who dabbled in weight lifting. He still had that ridiculous mustache and thick brows, but they weren’t as over the top as before. Somehow they worked together with the Lorax’s strong face structure to make him appear attractive. Oh good lord, did he really just think that? Yes, he did. And he couldn’t even deny it! Because the Lorax was good looking like this. Especially with those piercing blue eyes of his. The Once-ler had to fight the urge to smack himself in the forehead.

“I said I learned some new tricks, didn’t I? Well this is one of them,” the Lorax shrugged nonchalantly.

“New tricks? You can turn human now? Sheesh, why didn’t you do this sooner? Things could have been going a lot faster! And what else can you do?” The young man sat up as he spoke.

“No way, beanpole, it doesn’t work like that. They wouldn’t be in my bag of tricks if they were open for everyone to know.” The Lorax shook his head, his mustache quivering with his movements. “And I didn’t do it earlier because I didn’t want to. I wouldn’t have if there wasn’t some other way to move this damn thing—“ the orange man motioned to the machine behind him with his thumb—“It’s not a surprise I don’t care much for humans.”

The Once-ler couldn’t help but wince a bit at that comment. He knew he was the primary reason why the Lorax had those feelings. He had screwed everything up with his greed, and had brought his family here to help make it worse.

“So alright, now that I’ve changed, let’s work on getting this thing moved out of the way!” The Lorax ran his hands up his arms as though to push up sleeves, and partially turned toward the contraption laying broken behind him. The movement caused a ripple through the man’s body which caught the Once-ler’s eye against his will. His face heated up and he looked away again, hand shooting out in front of him in an attempt to block the view.

“No way, not without getting some clothes on you, we’re not!”

“What the heck are you talking about? Why do I need clothes—it’s not like you don’t have all the same stuff or anything.” The Lorax raised an eyebrow at the young man shielding his eyes. Seriously, what was his issue here?

“T-that’s not the point! It’s just decency! You don’t go around stark naked in public!” The Once-ler exclaimed awkwardly.

“Public? What public! Nothing but a bunch of stumps and us here, kiddo.”

The Once-ler let out a strangled noise of frustration before violently shaking his head. “No. Just… no! No way, I don’t care. I’m not helping you until you put some pants on at least!”

There was a finality to the human’s words, and the Lorax knew this was ridiculous battle he just wouldn’t win. Sighing, the guardian rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. “Fine, we’ll go get some pants and then move this. Deal?”

“Yes!” The Once-ler’s voice being awkward and strained as he responded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter would have been so ridiculously short, I had to put two scenes in it.  
> As for how the Lorax looks in his human form--this is what I mentally go by: http://jotaku.deviantart.com/art/The-Lorax-297117262

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Kudos, comments, or just sticking around for next Tuesday is appreciated! <3


End file.
